history of EPR in manitoba

Manitoba’s Extended Producer Responsibility Strategy

Green Manitoba, in cooperation with Manitoba Conservation and Water Stewardship’s Pollution Prevention Branch, initiated the development of a new waste minimization strategy for Manitoba that incorporated the principles of product stewardship and extended producer responsibility in 2005.

Extended Producer Responsibly (EPR) provides two main benefits:

EPR shifts the financial burden and responsibility for managing post-consumer waste products from taxpayers to producers and consumers; and

EPR helps reduce the environmental impact of a product at the post-consumer phase by promoting better product design by producers.

To reduce the amount of waste going to landfill and to conserve resources, four product stewardship priorities were identified for new regulatory initiatives under The Waste Reduction and Prevention (WRAP) Act, including:

Tires

Multi-material Recycling (Blue Box Materials)

Household Hazardous Waste (HHW)

Electronic Waste (E-Waste/ewaste)

Manitoba implemented regulated stewardship programs in 1995. Manitoba’s first product stewardship programs – the Manitoba Tire Stewardship Board and the Manitoba Product Stewardship Corporation–included mandated multi-stakeholder boards and regulated product levies. Manitoba’s Oil Stewardship Program, managed by the Manitoba Association of Resource Recovery Corp. (MARRC), was established in 1997 with a modernized regulatory framework that offered increased industry responsibility in the design and operation of stewardship programs with the flexibility to match revenue generation mechanisms with program expenditure requirements to support program sustainability. The MARRC program provided the model for Manitoba’s enhanced product stewardship initiatives launched in 2005.

In developing the new stewardship programs for Manitoba, it was essential that industry stewards were allowed the opportunity to design programs that were consistent with national and regional program operation.

Industry Consultation on Extended Producer Resposibility

To launch the industry consultation process in 2005, potentially affected industry stakeholders were invited to the one-day consultation workshop hosted by Green Manitoba. Participants were provided the opportunity to prepare formal written submissions about the new EPR process. Over 3,200 organizations were contacted at least twice prior to the stakeholder workshop.

The EPR stakeholder workshop, including a webcast, was held on October 25, 2005, in Winnipeg. The agenda consisted of a presentation of the new policy direction and framework in which industry stewardship programs were to be developed in Manitoba and interactive breakout sessions for each of the designated material streams. Overall, the industry stakeholder workshop included 52 participants who attended in person and 84 participants who participated in the webcast session.

It was concluded that industry stakeholders participating in the workshop were broadly familiar with the concepts of product stewardship and extended producer responsibility; recognized that these policy approaches are being adopted by provincial governments across Canada; agreed in principle with the broad policy framework outlined by Green Manitoba; and expressed a willingness to work cooperatively with Green Manitoba, and Manitoba Conservation and Water Stewardship to further develop the EPR policy and regulatory framework as the key next steps towards implementing new stewardship programs in Manitoba.

The Final Report from the workshop provides a summary of the October 25, 2005 consultation session. (Read Final Report)